This invention relates to a technique for selectively applying an audio logo and/or audible announcement(s) to the calling party of a telephone call placed over a telecommunications network.
Presently, some providers of telecommunications services, such as ATandT, provide an audible logo during the set-up of a telephone call to inform the caller that the call is being completed by that service provider. Placing an audible logo during call set-up is commonly referred to as xe2x80x9cbrandingxe2x80x9d the call. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,930,154 and 5,056,134, both issued in the name of T. M. Bauer, et al., and assigned to ATandT (incorporated by reference herein) both describe techniques for ubiquitously branding a call to identify the Inter-Exchange carrier (IXC) that carried the call. U.S. Pat. No. 5,539,809 issued in the name of by D. J. Mayer, et al. and assigned to ATandT (incorporated by reference herein), discloses a technique for providing a message to the calling party during call set-up. The message may include the time of day at the called party location, news, weather, or other information specific to the geographic location of the calling and/or called party.
Prior art techniques for accomplishing branding of calls and for providing informational announcements suffer from several disadvantages. First, ubiquitous branding of all calls as taught by the prior art is not always desirable because certain callers will be annoyed or offended by the branding and/or announcement. For example, entities that place large volumes of outbound calls, such as telemarketers, typically will object to call branding and/or announcements because such branding and/or announcements become irritating over time and may impede the speed and which calls are placed. For this reason, telemarketers would likely choose a different telecommunications service provider to avoid call branding and/or announcements.
Some callers may prefer to receive branding or announcements but may request that the telecommunications service provider tailor the announcements during their calls. Prior art call branding and announcement techniques provide no selectivity. Rather, callers typically receive a single type of branding or announcement message.
Another disadvantage of prior art branding and announcement techniques is that the branding and/or announcement(s) occur prior to the connection of the caller to the called party may require long post-dial delays and can sometimes effectively delay call setup. Delaying call setup invariably dissatisfies most if not all customers. Moreover, advances in telecommunications have lead to continuing decreases in the average post-dial delay, leaving less available time during which to play announcements. Additionally, prior art call branding and announcement techniques usually do not afford the ability to immediately terminate the message should the called party answer before normal message completion. Most subscribers would likely object to continued branding and/or announcements after answering by the called party.
Given the aforementioned disadvantages, a telecommunications service provider could risk losing customers by ubiquitous application of branding and/or announcements in accordance with the teachings of the prior art. Thus, there is a need for a technique for providing branding and/or announcements that overcomes such disadvantages.
Briefly, the present invention provides a technique for determining which if any of a selected audible logo and an announcement are provided to a calling party during setup of a telephone call placed by a calling party to a called party across at least one telecommunications network that carries the call on a trunk group from an originating line. In accordance with the invention, the network establishes at least one call attribute for the call and then compares the established attributes(s) to pre-provisioned information stored in a database to determine if a match exists between the attribute(s) and the pre-provisioned data. If such a match exists, then the network selects an audible logo and/or an announcement based on such a match and thereafter provides the selected logo and/or announcement to the calling party prior to call completion.
The call attribute may comprise the calling party number (CPN) while the pre-provisioned data would comprise lists of originating telephone numbers, or at least portions of originating numbers. Each list of numbers has an associated indicator that indicates whether at least one of an audible logo and announcement should be provided, and if so, an identifier of the at least one of the logo and announcement to be provided. Based on the called party""s number, the network would provide (or not provide) a particular audio logo and/or announcement.
Alternatively, the call attribute may comprise the dialed (called party""s) number while the pre-provisioned data would comprise lists of destination numbers, or at least portions of destination numbers (such as a country code, NPA, or NPA-NXX). Each list of numbers has an associated indicator that indicates whether at least one of an audible logo and announcement should be provided, and if so, an identifier of the at least one of the logo and announcement to be provided. Based on the called party""s number, the network would provide (or not provide) a particular audio logo and/or announcement.
The call attribute may comprise the carrier identification code (CIC) associated with the telecommunications service provider that is to carry the call while the pre-provisioned data would comprise lists of CIC codes. Each list of numbers has an associated indicator that indicates whether at least one of an audible logo and announcement should be provided, and if so, an identifier of the at least one of the logo and announcement to be provided. Based on the CIC code, the network would provide (or not provide) a particular audio logo and/or announcement.
A forth call attribute may comprise the trunk group characteristics, that is the characteristic of the trunk group within the telecommunications service provider network that carried the call. The corresponding pre-provisioned data would comprise lists of trunk group characteristics (such as trunk group number and/or trunk group signaling type). Each list of numbers has an associated indicator that indicates whether at least one of an audible logo and announcement should be provided, and if so, an identifier of the at least one of the logo and announcement to be provided. Based on the trunk group characteristics, the network would provide (or not provide) a particular audio logo and/or announcement
A fifth call attribute may comprise Originating Line Information (OLI) or xe2x80x9cIIxe2x80x9d digits while the pre-provisioned data would comprise lists of II digits. Each list of II digits has an associated indicator that indicates whether at least one of an audible logo and announcement should be provided, and if so, an identifier of the at least one of the logo and announcement to be provided. Based on the II digits, the network would provide (or not provide) a particular audio logo and/or announcement.
Indeed, the call attribute may comprise a combination of two or more of the following: (1) the calling party number, (2) the dialed number, (3) the CIC, (4) the trunk group characteristics, and (5) the II digits. For example, the combination of a prescribed CIC and a destination number within a prescribed range of numbers could establish that a call will receive a specific logo and/or announcement associated with these two call attributes. Likewise, the combination of a specific calling party number and a destination number within a prescribed range of numbers could establish that a call receive a specific logo and/or announcement associated with such attributes.
By comparing the call attributes to the pre-provisioned data, and providing a selected one of an audible logo and/or announcement in accordance with such a match, the invention provides branding and/or announcements on selected calls, an advantage not achieved by the prior art.